Kelson v. Pitters
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-09787
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Kelson v. Pitters, Judge Swain ordered an original IFP signature within 30 days or the action would be dismissed.
Plaintiff Isaiah Kelson, who was required to provide an original signature on his application to proceed without prepaying court fees.
What happened
Isaiah Kelson brought Kelson v. Pitters without a lawyer and requested permission to proceed without paying court fees upfront. The application was unsigned.
The court directed Kelson to resubmit the application’s signature page with an original signature within 30 days. The court also said that no summons would issue at that time and that the case would proceed through the Clerk’s Office if he complied.
If Kelson did not comply within the deadline, the action would be dismissed. Judge Swain also denied permission to proceed without paying fees for any appeal, finding that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Kelson v. Pitters · No. 1:22-cv-09787
- Laura Swain
- Nov. 18, 2022
Background
Isaiah Kelson filed this action without a lawyer and submitted an application to proceed without prepaying court fees. The court found that he had not signed the application.
Court’s reasoning
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(a) requires an unrepresented party to personally sign a pleading, motion, or other court paper. The court also cited Local Civil Rule 11.1(a) and explained that the required signature must be handwritten or otherwise placed by the signer, rather than merely typed or reproduced.
Order
The court directed Kelson to resubmit the signature page of his fee-waiver application with an original signature within 30 days of the order. No summons would issue at that time. If Kelson complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures; if he did not comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed.
The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for purposes of an appeal. Judge Laura Taylor Swain signed the order as Chief United States District Judge.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.